CHAPTER XVII.

HEATHEN RESPONSIVE AND CONGREGATIONAL

WORSHIP-Ancient.

1. The Bible.-2. Homer.-3. Horace and Virgil.-4. Ancient Assyrian and Babylonian Records and fragments of Liturgies.-5. Ancient Egyptian Records and fragments of Liturgies.

1.—Allusions in the Bible to Heathen Responsive and Congregational Worship.

(1.) A remarkable reproduction of ancient Egyptian worship is recorded in the 32d Chapter of Exodus. It must here claim our attention, as an example of the Responsive and Congregational Worship which prevailed in Egyptian temples fifteen centuries before Christ.

When receiving the Law, Moses and Joshua remained long on Mount Sinai. The people of Israel, who were camped in the valley beneath, soon began to yearn for the idolatrous worship which they had so recently left behind them in Egypt. The belief which the Egyptians cherished, in common with many other heathen nations, that their worship was, under various idolatrous forms, always paid to the One Supreme and Invisible God,1 made it easy for the degraded Israelites to worship an Egyptian idol, and at the same time suppose that they were true worshippers of Jehovah.

1 G. Rawlinson, The Religions of the Ancient World, p. 42. Records of the Past, II. pp. 125–128; IV. p. 109.

"When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount," they and Aaron formed a golden representation of the Egyptian Bull-god, Apis. The image, which was in the form of a young bull, was made of wood, overlaid with a covering of gold plate.1 They built an altar before the image; and they offered sacrifices upon the altar, with antiphonal singing, dancing, hand-clapping, rejoicing, and the usual sacrificial meal; as the Egyptians celebrated the feast of Apis.2

Moses, having received the two tables of stone on which the Law was written, and having been told by God of the idolatrous lapse of the people, came down from the mount, accompanied by his chief captain Joshua. Their path, during the greater part of the descent, followed the course of a deep gorge which ran down the shoulder of the mountain. So long as they were in the gorge, the camp, which lay beneath the rocky front of Sinai, was shut out from their view; but broken sounds from the camp, ascending through the still mountain air of that Eastern climate, so favourable to the transmission of sound, soon began to reach their ears. Those who have heard Prussian soldiers singing on the march, or who have approached from a distance any great body of worshippers singing in the open air, will appreciate the minute and lifelike touches of truth which here shine in the sacred narrative. Every intervening rock, or tree, or mound, or breath of air, breaks the distant melody. For a few seconds, nothing is heard. Then, with startling clearness, a confused "shout suddenly reaches the ear, and is in an instant silent. Such broken sounds Moses and Joshua heard; and each interpreted them according to his own instincts. Joshua, the Chief captain of the host, true to his instincts as a

1 Kiel and Delitzsch, in loc.

2 Herod., 2. 60; 3. 27, 28.

man of war, thought of the battlefield. He heard the voices of a multitude, but not always of the same multitude: the "shouts," which from time to time burst upon his ears, became more distinct: they came evidently from different multitudes-from, as he thought, different armies. Believing that the people had been attacked by pursuiug Egyptians, or by hostile desert tribes, "he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp."

While Joshua thought of war and different armies, Moses thought of worship and different choirs. Moses replied, "It is not the voice of them that shout for the mastery [that is, of a victorious army], neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome [that is, of an army being defeated and slaughtered]: but the sound of ANSWERING-SONGS (antiphonal songs, Musical, Responsive, and Congregational Worship) I do hear."1

(2.) In the description of Elijah's conflict with the Prophets of the Phoenician Sun-god, Baal, we have indications of the responsive and congregational character of both Heathen and Jewish worship. The "450 prophets" of the false god danced around the altar "from morning, even until noon," crying or chanting, sometimes, no doubt, in unison, and sometimes antiphonally, "O Baal, hear us." We cannot doubt that in similar dances and chants, the people now silent, because of Elijah's presence, had often joined around the altars of Baal.

Elijah's sacrifice was accompanied by a short special prayer, as the occasion required, and Jehovah immediately sent down fire from heaven upon the sacrifice. Then "ALL THE PEOPLE fell on their faces :" and they said, "The Lord, He is the God; The Lord, He is the

Stanley, Sinai and Palestine,

1 Ex. 32. 17, 18. Keil and Delitzsch, in loc. in loc. Smith, Dictionary of the Bible, III. p. 1327, Art. Sinai.

God." We notice here, how ready "all the people" were both to prostrate themselves in worship, and to join in the worship with one heart and one voice. They had been accustomed to do so all their lives.1

(3.) In the Acts of the Apostles we see a trace of the responsive and congregational worship in the great temple of Diana at Ephesus. The multitude at Ephesus, when they supposed that their goddess had been despised, rushed together into the vast theatre. And "ALL WITH ONE VOICE about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" This was evidently a familiar response which had resounded like thunder through the great temple of Ephesus on many a high festival.2

2.-Allusions in Homer to Heathen Responsive and Congregational Worship.

(1.) When the Trojans had sustained a reverse in arms, Homer represents Queen Hecuba and the Trojan matrons as repairing to the temple of Minerva, which was situated in the highest part of their city. There, the fair Theano, the Priestess of Minerva, took from Queen Hecuba's hand the costly embroidered robe which was her offering to the goddess; placed it upon the knees of the image of Minerva; and offered up a prayer for the safety of the city. In response to this prayer, Hecuba and all the matrons, raising their hands to Minerva, uttered a supplicatory cry. According to the usages of heathen worship, this supplicatory cry must have been a short response, such as "O Minerva, hear us!" or "O Minerva, save us!" It was chanted in a musical wail by the whole assembly; and was re

1 1 Kings 18. 20-46. Keil, in loc.

2 Acts 19. 34.

peated once, twice, or many times, at each pause the Priestess made.1

(2.) At the funeral obsequies of Hector, the Trojan hero, the leaders of funeral dirges chanted mournful strains. At each pause, the women responded in a wailing chant.2

Herodotus commends the skill with which the Libyan women chanted religious wails in the temples. He suggests that the Greeks must have learned the art from them.3

Greek worship was essentially congregational, responsive, and musical. In the Doric states, the whole of the men who formed the battle array formed also the chorus in the worship of their principal deity, Apollo. This vast chorus was divided into "strophes" and "antistrophes," who sometimes chanted in unison, and sometimes antiphonally, responding to each other."

3.-Horace and Virgil.

(1.) One of the greatest festivals of Pagan Rome was the Sæculum. It was celebrated once in every 100 or 110 years; and its solemnities, which were prescribed in the ancient Sibylline Books, lasted three days and three nights. Amongst the rules given in the Sibylline Books for the due performances of these solemnities, it was directed that a hymn in praise of Apollo and Diana, to whom the festival was sacred, should be sung by a choir of youths and maidens. In the year B.C. 17, when Augustus had restored tranquillity to the Roman world, the Sæculum was observed with great pomp; and the hymn in honour of Apollo and Diana was, by the

1 Hom. l. vi. 300.

2 Hom. I. xxiv. 720. 3 Herod. iv. 189. ♦ Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Art. Chorus, pp. 225, 226.

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